A country-wide shortage of home helpers is becoming a major headache

Copenhagen Municipality has ads out for 40 vacant posts in the social services assistant and home nursing category

More warm hands are needed in the Danish eldercare sector (photo: Matthias Zomer/Pexels)

May 23rd, 2019 11:42 am| by Stephen Gadd

More and more people in Denmark are living to a ripe old age and the area of public sector care for the elderly is growing. The trouble is that there are just not enough people going into the field to cope with the demand.

At present, Copenhagen Municipality has around 40 posts advertised on job portals. Around half of them are in the area that covers Amager, Christianshavn, Vesterbro and Valby, and the other half in Nørrebro, Bispebjerg, Vanløse, Østerbro and the city centre.

Accentuate the positive
“We have a major task – not only in Copenhagen but also country-wide – underlining the importance of work carried out in the fields of eldercare and nursing. Their contribution is invaluable,” said Copenhagen’s deputy mayor for social issues, Mia Nyegaard.

Kommunernes Landsforening, the country-wide association of municipalities, estimates that 15,000 additional people will be required over the next five years.

“This is a major social problem that will take a lot of effort to solve. What we can do is to be better at promoting this area and telling people about all the good these people do, along with the rewarding things that can be found in the home help and nursing sectors,” said Nyegaard.